


Sleepless Nights

by JJKMagic



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 11:41:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13234977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JJKMagic/pseuds/JJKMagic
Summary: They never mention those nights once they're over, but it seems that as emotionally detached as the leaders of Morphine are when they are awake, just as vulnerable they are in their sleep when their mind and consciousness are left unguarded. Sometimes even the most flawless facade breaks.





	Sleepless Nights

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for [playingdmmdforplot](https://playingdmmdforplot.tumblr.com/) as a sort of little Christmas present since it was semi-inspired by their headcanon.  
> Since I totally forgot to post it here all this time, though, it now also serves as a little New Year's fic for AO3, so:  
> Happy New Year!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this little ficlet^^

Trip hates nights like this.

The thin sheen of sweat that has gathered on his skin starts cooling uncomfortably the moment his racing heart starts to slow down to its usual rhythm again.  
He doesn’t remember the terrors that plague him once he wakes from them but that doesn’t make their aftermath any less unpleasant.

His shirt starts sticking to his skin as he sits in his bed staring into the unmoving darkness of his room. There’s no going back to sleep like that, he knows. Sleep will continue to escape him for the rest of the night, like his subconsciousness is afraid of what his conscious mind doesn’t even remember. So no, Trip doesn’t like nights like this but he also doesn’t mind them as much as he used to.

Shaking off the paralysis that tends to claim him the first moments after waking like this, he gets up as soon as his eyes adjust to the darkness. He doesn’t close the door to his room as he steps into the equally dark living room. There is nothing of interest to him in there though so he heads straight for the adjoining room instead.

Virus’ room, plunged into complete darkness as it is, is somehow even quieter than Trip’s own. The reason might be Hersha resting completely motionless and unnoticeable while Trip’s own Allmate was prone to being restless even in sleep. As if on cue Trip feels something nudge the door he was about to close behind him, big gleaming eyes staring up at him. Inwardly sighing Trip tries to close the door anyway but the massive black furball he calls his Allmate is intent on following him into the room regardless.

“Stop, Berta” Trip hisses quietly, “you’ll wake Virus!”

Which is entirely unlikely, Trip knows from own experience, and Berta looks at him blandly as if even he was calling Trip out on the lame excuse. Trip just sighs and the moment he stops pressing against the door the lion wanders calmly into the room like it was the most natural thing in the world. Trip decides to ignore his antics and closes the door before approaching the king-sized bed in the middle of the room, its dark blankets seemingly fusing with the darkness of the room. If it wasn’t for the blond head standing out sharply against all the surrounding black, the room would almost seem deserted. Trip doesn’t pay it any mind as he slips beneath the blanket and settles, staring into the darkness of the room that seems so much like his own and still manages to calm him in a way his own never could. Virus won’t wake from him being here, he never does. Trip sometimes wishes he could sleep as deeply as the older blond, but he doesn’t mind. It’s enough that the other is _here_.

Vaguely he notices that Berta is still wandering through the room, his gleaming eyes restless until at some point he plops down gracelessly on the floor. The following hiss is a telltale sign that the stupid cat has _again_ chosen Hersha’s resting spot as the one he wants to claim for himself. Trip sighs almost fondly. That cat is truly a hopeless case.

Trip can only make out faint outlines, but Hersha, its black scales shimmering even in the darkness, is all too visible now that it’s twisting restlessly. The snake seems too upset to return to sleep mode right away, until, after some time, it simply climbs on top of the lion that has stolen its spot and coils up on his back to resume its sleep.

Huh. When had those two gotten so close, Trip wonders. He has no idea, not that he particularly cares. Seeing as the two Allmates have settled and offer no further distraction Trip turns and slides closer to Virus. The other man is completely still save for his soft breathing. Trip’s mind is blank as he presses closer, wrapping an arm around Virus’ waist just above the shorts he wears during the night. He doesn’t expect to feel the warmth of bare skin there but finds that Virus’ nightshirt must have ridden up in his sleep. Trip doesn’t mind, greedily soaking in the warmth as he presses his face into the crook between Virus’ neck and shoulder to take in the pure and clean smell that is just so uniquely _Virus_.  
It’s pure white and _safe_ and Trips finds himself falling asleep before he can so much as form another thought.

 

\- - -

It is warm, almost unpleasantly so.

That is the first thing Virus becomes aware of before he so much as opens his eyes. He also knows instinctively that it is not his usual time to wake, so the warmth must in fact have woken him.

“Trip,” he murmurs without opening his eyes, unwilling to actually bother with the situation at hand right now, “it’s warm.”

There is a miniscule shift behind him before he hears: “’s not my fault.”

Virus opens his eyes then and it takes him a moment to process the black lump that appears before his eyes, at least until he catches a glimpse of black scales.

“Unbelievable,” he mutters as he finally recognizes the black lump as a massive Allmate acting as a much unwanted furnace in the middle of his bed.

“Why did you bring him here?” Virus asks, unable to mask the annoyance sliding into his tone.

“He followed me, doesn’t like being alone, I guess,” Trip responds, sounding almost sheepish about it.

Virus just sighs resigned, mumbling to himself.

“Warm...”

“Sorry,” he hears Trip say and feels him start to move away. Realizing his intentions Virus puts an arm on the one Trip must have wound around his waist sometime during the night to stop him.

“It’s fine,” he says once, quietly, _decisively_ , and Trip stops moving.

There is nothing for it but to bear the heat. Throwing Trip and his over-sized cat out now would only wake him up further and Virus _hates_ getting up before his usual time.

“Hersha,” Virus calls quietly and the snake sticks its head out immediately, eyes gleaming as it waits for its orders, “set the alarm in an hour.” Hersha blinks, processing the order, and keeps staring at Virus for a while longer expecting further instructions. When none come it lies back down and resumes its sleep mode.

“I don’t want to be late because someone disrupted my sleep schedule,” Virus explains thoug he has no real reason to.

“Sorry,” Trip repeats but Virus doesn’t offer another reply. He already said it’s fine and Trip knows better than to expect Virus to repeat himself.

 

\- - -

Virus doesn’t mention _those_ nights once they are over, nor does Trip.

That first night he had stepped into Virus’ room after hours of staring at the walls of his room with no explanation as to why he couldn’t sleep but with the absolute certainty that he just _couldn’t_ it had only taken those few words for Trip to stop wondering about it.

 _‘It’s fine’_ Virus has said back then too and if he said so it had to be. Virus doesn’t lie to him, not ever. There’s no reason for him to. Virus’ scalding, manipulative words are directed at everyone else but between the two of them there is no need for them. If Virus goes, Trip follows. It’s an unwritten norm that neither of them questions. Virus is the only light that Trip needs in this otherwise dirty world.

Which is also why Trip instinctively seeks him out during _those_ nights. It’s not a conscious decision. He doesn’t know what scares him. There’s nothing in this world that scares him that he is aware of. Neither does he know why he seeks out Virus, nor why he sought him out all those years ago. Something about that light Virus represents is safe, is _calming_ and that’s all Trip needs to know, really. He’s never felt the need to over-analyze such things. That’s Virus’ thing. He _dissects_ the world around him, so he can put it back together the way he wants afterwards. His manipulation is infallible, it’s _flawless_. Virus doesn’t have any weaknesses that Trip is aware of, except for being sensitive about his sleep hours and wrinkles in his clothes maybe, but those are trivial things.

Which is exactly why one night Trip’s world gets turned upside down for one jarring moment.

He wakes suddenly, drowsy and disoriented when he feels another body pressing against his own. There’s a mop of blond pressed against his chest and his mind sluggishly starts to process the situation… but fails.

“Virus…?” he asks quietly, dumbfounded.

Why is Virus here? He has never so much as set a foot into Trip’s room before. It is always Trip who seeks the other out, never the other way around.

Trip’s mind is still busy trying to process the mere presence of the other man when an unknown fear settles in his guts realizing that the slight form against him is _trembling_.

“What is wrong?” Trip asks louder, unintentionally raising his voice in agitation.

Virus isn’t looking at him, hiding his face against the taller man’s chest. Trip hasn’t even noticed how Virus is gripping onto his shirt tightly, tight enough for Trip to feel it pull taut over his shoulders.

The behavior seems familiar in a way, though it is still completely jarring seeing it in Virus. There is an idea forming in Trip’s head but it just seems so unlikely. It has never happened before after all. Still, after a moment of hesitation he voices it anyway.

“A nightmare?” he asks softly, his low voice instinctive again rather than conscious.

Virus stills marginally against him, grip going slack. He doesn’t respond. Trip almost stops expecting him to when he feels Virus nod, exactly once, and then fall still again.

Trip doesn’t exactly know why but the moment his suspicions are confirmed he wraps his arms around Virus, suddenly wondering how he could have missed his trembling in the first place. Virus obviously won’t tell him but Trip can’t help but wonder.

Does Virus remember his dreams? Do they appear occasionally, like Trip’s, or is this the first time? If it isn’t, what does he usually do when they haunt him?

For some reason the thought of Virus lying alone in his room, _trembling_ , makes Trip see red. He tightens his grip on the older man and hears Virus emit a soft sound. Trip can’t place the sound so he just keeps holding him, holding him until, oh so slowly, the trembling recedes and Virus’ breathing evens out. Trip doesn’t dare moving once he realizes that Virus has fallen asleep.

It still feels _wrong_. He can’t deny a certain sense a satisfaction at somehow having helped Virus to calm down but seeing him so out of it in the first place would continue to haunt him for some time to come. Trip wasn’t protective of Virus. Virus needed protection as little as Trip himself did but this was… _different_. Sleep left them both vulnerable to the horrors of the night, the past, the _unconscious_.

Trip looks up, surprised when he hears the door handle move, but little surprised when the door opens a moment a later and a black mass slithers into the room. The door is closed with the tip of a black tail and Trip realizes he has forgotten how strong and clever Virus’ Allmate is. The massive snake approaches the bed and proceeds to stare at Trip with empty but intelligent eyes. Trip smirks.

“Worried about your master, eh?”

Hersha blinks and, seeming satisfied, slithers further into the room where Berta lies on its back, paws spread aimlessly into the air like the big stupid cat he is. Hersha seems unbothered by this and nudges at one of the massive paws until Berta rolls over, annoyed but without waking, and Hersha can slide onto his back again to sleep. Trip can only watch them, just as confused as the last time he saw their Allmates act so familiar all on their own. Just when did they start doing that?

His gaze flickers back to Virus sleeping peacefully now and wonders if there is anything else he can do. What could be troubling Virus enough to trigger a nightmare like that, if it was indeed the first one of its kind? Trip might never know.

Recently their negotiations with rivaling gangs and rhyme teams all went smoothly. Virus had obviously learned from their failed attempts in the past that had a tendency to end with a lot of blood and bruised knuckles, not that Trip minded all that much.

That’s when an idea occures to him. It’s not nearly as brilliant and flawless as anything Virus might come up with, in fact Virus might be cross with him afterwards but to Trip it seems good enough. He might just end up _accidentally_ provoking the other gang, just a _teeny tiny_ bit next time.

Virus likes to pretend otherwise but he enjoys violence as much as Trip does and Trip knew from experience how relaxing a successful brawl was to him. Way more than sitting through endless negotiations, no matter how amusing it could be to see Virus play them all for fools.

A little violence could do wonders for relaxation Trip decided. Virus would be cross with him for messing with his carefully laid plans but there were other benefits to be reaped so Trip could live with that.

With said plan in mind, Trip smiled, carding his fingers through Virus’ hair in a slow, calming motion.

_“Sleep well, Virus.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Comments and constructive criticism are much appreciated!  
> This is my first time writing ViTri after literally being to insecure to write them at all for years xD
> 
> You can also hit me up on [my tumblr](http://jjkmagic.tumblr.com/), if you like^^


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